I've been thinking of a new idea. It's mainly due to me playing more Pokémon more than ever. No, it's not because I've been playing Scarlet and Violet (though I did snatch a copy of Violet from a second-hand store recently). No, it's because of a private project I've been working on for some time. What is that project? Well, I have some OG carts of the Gen 1 Pokémon games as well as Silver and Sapphire. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to transfer my game saves to PC and then to 3ds and Virtual Console via a hacked 3ds. At the time of writing this, I've successfully pulled the save from my Red but failed in my Yellow, Silver and Sapphire games (Yellow's was corrupt and needs to be repulled, Silver's battery died some time ago, and Sapphire wasn't able to be pulled with a Retrode and I'm waiting for my GB Operator to come in). In doing this private project, I also wanted to get some unique ribbons for my Pokémon from these older games and legit transfer them to newer generations, but to do so requires some… fuckery. I'm planning a whole video on it once the project is complete but, in the meantime, I've been trying to complete Alpha Sapphire, Moon, and Ultra Moon before then. I also have to beat – at least the Pokémon League – of Gen 4 and 5 (and also hack 2 3dses, but that's all in the project video when it releases). But anyway, onto the story idea. So, what is it?

I recently have come across a Pokémon ROM hack called "This Gym of Mine." Basically, you as the player character are assigned as a new gym leader to a Podunk town and are assigned to replace the former leader and build the town into a proper city all out of pocket despite the city certainly needing to chip in. Point being, it's an interesting game where at the beginning you choose a type and have a choice between three starters and have to build a team around your chosen type theme where either the type needs to be that type or must have your gym's signature move learned. You might be thinking this is where this story is going – a telling of my playthrough through this said ROM hack – but no, that's what this story is, it's being used as a nice backdrop and a plot point. Here's the basic synopsis:

Orre was rebuilt after the events of Gale of Darkness and worked for decades to get the region recolonized by various Pokémon once more from Unova, Galar, and Alola. The headcanon that since these three regions are based on real life countries Unova would basically be the East Coast of the US, Orre the Southwest (mainly around Arizona because of Phenec City and LA because of the port town way to the west), and Alola being way off the coast but still in federation with the aforementioned regions (as it is based off of Hawaii). Galar because of Unova and their shared history from time past (basically, US and Britian post-WWI). Due to the crossbreeding of regional variants, that gives the region their own regional variants. A concept that could be very interesting and lends to a lot of potential creativity.

The protagonist, the son of the reigning Champion and one-time savior of the region twenty years prior, sets out outside of Orre for his own Pokémon journey because of the potential favoritism towards him and other gym leaders potentially fearing for their jobs (an unfounded fear as well) not wanting to give him a serious challenge. And so, he leaves with his Eevee to "parts unknown" to start his journey and in doing so meets a group of children like himself going on their own journeys.

So, thus far you can probably conclude that the protagonist is the son of Wes, the canon name of the Colosseum protagonist and first "savior" of the region and the Eevee in question is the child of his Espeon and Umbreon. Now, obviously as mentioned in the micro-synopsis there, Orre isn't going to be the region focused on but another. So, the first thing I need to figure out is what region and what timeframe as, as some do know, Pokémon is split between two timelines, the Mega and non-Mega evolution timelines and both the regions of Galar and Paldea existing in both simultaneously due to both the Area 0 meteor and big snaky boi colliding on Poke-Earth prior to the Ultimate Weapon of AZ being created over in Kalos. The second question is which continuity do I want to use? There's the game, anime, and Adventures manga continuities. The anime and Adventures manga continuities seem to imply there's only one timeline but once the specific generation's gimmick passes, they forget about it. The games are the same, but in the others – at least for the anime – the previous games'/season's events still happen and are referenced from time to time. The first thing to figure out is as follows: do I want this OC protagonist to interact with Ash and co. at all?

After all, one of my favorite stories on this site "Borne of Caution" by fuggmann (id: 13390578) uses a hybrid style of universe where his character travels with the game or Adventures manga counterparts while Ash still travels with his canon companions off screen with some occasional flashes over to see Ash's progress in Hoenn. But as for me? The first thing is what companions do I want to be involved? Human companions specifically. The major thing is "annoyance" who annoys me the least. Well, Brock and Misty are two of my favorites, but then again, I'm a "genwonner". May seemed to be good company as well but Max is a bit annoying; though her ORAS game counterpart was much more enjoyable as a person though we didn't interact with her much. Serena seemed decent but that's countered by Clement and Bonnie (I only know her game counterpart and only watched the anime a few times during Gen 6's seasons). The last two are Dawn and Iris, and yes, I know they come from different games; they seemed decent and Iris would definitely be a good battle buddy for MC to improve his team. I would say last again, but I know very little about the Alola interactions and it seems like the Trial Captains we encounter in the games are different from the ones in the anime as it appears the anime is a soft prequel since events that are in the game still kinda happen? It's kind of confusing. I'm probably going to avoid the Alola arc unless it's the game version.

After a long time thinking on it, I decided that I am going to go with Sinnoh. Why? Well, because Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were TOO faithful to the original games when they could have adapted the changes in Platinum to the 2-game structure that the Pokémon games will likely always have. That isn't my only reason. I'm plotting a Platinum playthrough on my hacked 3ds in order to do a Ribbon Challenge "lite" (basically just doing the ribbons I want on a select Pokémon (or multiple depending on how I feel; mainly league champion and contests) so I can just run whatever mons I want in the Pokémon League before moving on to the next game (obviously making a stop over in Fire Red for the Champion ribbon there first) until I make it to Home. Yeah… this is likely going to take a while. But, in the meantime, I can write this story. So, how's it going to go?

Once again, after considering this for a while I decided to take notes from fuggmann and make it a hybrid of the games, manga, and anime. Take the best parts of them and leave out the worst as there are things that people hate about the anime and the manga but love about Platinum and so on. That, and Sinnoh has the best history out of all the regions backed up by Legends: Arceus (despite the latter coming out almost 20 years later). And to clarify, mythology and the history of the region. There's not a whole lot about Kanto and Johto, but Hoenn really dropped the bomb in the lore department and Sinnoh/Hisuei followed suit onward. While Platinum and BW/B2W2 have the best story overall (though some debate SV but I haven't played them through yet), Sinnoh definitely has some of the best background lore so much to the point that Teal Mask revisits it to an extent.

Now that I've spent 1500 words or so getting background done. On to the story itself. One last discussion is pairings. It's… contentious. After all, in the manga it's typical to have the lead characters – assuming they're different sexes – basically be romance-coded (and done pretty well with Ruby and Sapphire's relationship arc). In the anime it was debated for a long time who had Ash's heart (I'm split between Misty and Serena, to be honest). And in the games, there isn't really any of that with the exception of Ruby/Sapphire where the opposite sex rival from your starting town sort of hints that they have a crush on you and this is reinforced in ORAS as well. I think the only other time was maybe Black and White where Bianca sort of has a thing for the male player character, but that's about all. I will put it as at this point in time in writing the pilot of this idea, there is no selected character to pair with this male original character. Yes, I have considered Dawn since this is in Sinnoh. I've also considered Bianca from Unova, and so on. After all, this isn't a romance story primarily, but that of a guy from another region exploring, making friends, and stopping the bad guys. Though, as a safeguard for this, I've decided to age up the characters to make it feel less awkward in writing.

Finally, let's get this show on the road.

Title: [undecided]

Rating: T - T+, mostly for language and some depictions of violence.

Pairings: Nothing currently planned in the short term for this pilot. As mentioned previously, all characters will be aged up to be at or near 17-19. Dawn is a prospective candidate near the end of the adventure, especially since the two will be travelling together for at least what is implied to be a year. Others are Bianca or Hilda (Black/White), Rosa (Black 2/White 2), Shauna or Serena (X/Y but the latter is heavily dependent on if Ash exists in this universe), Mallow or Moon or one of the other trial captains (from Sun/Moon/Ultras), Marnie or Gloria or Nessa (Sword/Shield), or Nemona or Penny (Scarlet/Violet). Regardless of who I would choose, anything that would happen would be near the end of the adventure, likely shortly after the gang of the appropriate region is defeated (Galactic, Plasma, Flare, Aether/Skull, Yell, Star) would anything truly start to move.

Summary: Moving on my own to the Sinnoh region was a difficult choice to make, but the Orre League is still in its infancy and the region continuously being rebuilt from the ashes of both Team Snagem and Cipher's meddling despite that happening many years ago. And so I find myself in the land of Legends and Myth to start my battling career.

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides my copy of MS Word and my desktop. Pokémon belongs to the Pokémon Company and Nintendo. In addition, I only own original plot points or characters. See the forward for the full disclaimer.

XxXxXxX

I finish refueling my speeder bike at a service station on the final stop before leaving the mainland and heading to the Sinnoh region. The floating piece of technology was one of the innovations provided by Zetatech out of Orre, my homeland. I had spent a majority of my childhood building, taking apart, rebuilding, tuning, and upgrading the floating bike which used the planet's electromagnetic field to repulse it from the surface. Over a week ago, I had left my childhood town of Agate Village, one of the only 'green' places in Orre. It wasn't like there wasn't any greenery in Orre, however, it was a mostly arid desert for the majority of the region with a massive, semi-active volcano in the borderline center as a feature which was used as a battle center aptly named Mount Battle. And people had done de-desertification projects to attempt to push back the never-ending sands. Desert plants and Pokémon from Unova seem to have started to help, but there will likely be no massive impacts that would be observable for another two generations of humans.

"Vee!" semi-shrill sounding voice came from the seat of the bike. I looked down to see my companion Eevee sitting patiently on the saddle, his head tilted to the side inquisitively.

I ruffle the fur on its head, "It's alright, pal. Just thinking of home."

I look out to see in the distance, maybe a mile away at most, the port town of Kamado's Landing's shipyards and port proper. A port town that bordered on city size and served as a minor trade hub for the northernmost regions such as Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia which allowed goods to be transported over land via train or truck to regions such as Johto and Kanto. And one of the regions that used this port town as a link point was our destination: Sinnoh.

Sinnoh was a land of myths and legends. After all, when the Celestica Diaspora happened many of the tribe members spoke of in the legends they handed down to the regions they moved to about the 'land of the gods' and that of 'the Great Lord Sinnoh's seat.' It would later be recorded by a professor named Laventon that 'Sinnoh' was their ancient word for 'Arceus' and the land previously dubbed Hisui was renamed to Sinnoh in honor of the Great Creator.

At least, that's how the old tales tell it.

Also, strangely around that time it seemed like a small technological revolution came from what is now Jubilife City. It may be worth checking out the old ancient village camp which had been preserved as a living museum.

"Watch the bike, I'm going to get some snacks," I say as I walk to the connected convenience store to which got a borderline militaristic salute from Eevee. The trip inside was uneventful. I paid for the gas, picked up some snacks, and some drinks for the 'road.' The straight between here and the mainland of Sinnoh was at least a good five hundred kilometers away. Which at top speed I could reach in an hour, but the engine couldn't run that hot for that long; so, it'd be at least a 2-hour journey at minimum. I walked outside to see Eevee was still sitting there and I stuffed the newly acquired snacks and drinks into the saddle bag.

Eevee stepped forward on top of the deactivated control panel to allow me to take my spot. I swung my leg over the side and took my position at the controls. As I did what was the equivalent of a pre-flight check, Eevee crawled under my waterproof jacket and popped his head out of the collar. The bike hummed to life as power went to the engines. I throttled it up to the local speed limits and left the station and arrived at the harbor in a few minutes. Houses and other buildings passed by.

I pulled up to the harbormaster's building and entered, presented my documents and intent to cross the sea passage between the larger landmass and Sinnoh. My passport was stamped and I positioned myself on the dock. I flicked a few switches more and the engine went from a dull whine to a full-blown, monstrous hum. As the engine revved to full power, I pulled the pair of tinted goggles down over my eyes and pulled a second, smaller pair over Eevee's. I lay my body low to fit the aerodynamics of the bike. I pushed the bars forward and accelerated like a fighter jet leaving a catapult, from 0 to 200 kph in less than a second. In the blink of an eye, I was off of the dock and zipping over the water to the shock of the very few onlookers that were near the dock. A column of water followed us as we zipped over the water. As I reached the edge of the shallow water in under a minute, I pushed the engine to its upper limits that were well within safe tolerances and increased speed to 300 kilometers per hour.

The engine's hum began to sound like the growl of an angry dragon-type. The engine's backblast was starting to get significantly loud, and that was saying something considering my hearing protection was meant for much louder things. I glanced at my watch. Only fifteen minutes had passed, and if my math was right – which it sometimes was – I should be about a third into the crossing. And, sure enough about ten minutes later I could see the coastline of the southernmost point of Sinnoh. It still looked to be a good way away, but I could at least see it. In the even further distance, I could see the 'Throat of the World,' the 'Sky Pillar,' 'Arceus's seat:' Mount Coronet. It was much, much larger than Mount Chimney of the Hoenn region, Orre's closest neighbor regionally (but not culturally).

Heading on the same heading as me, that being towards Sandgem town – a small port town that served as a point to disembark onto the region as while there were others for more commercial routes, it was one of the first areas visitors such as myself would disembark due to Professor Rowan's lab being there and it being the primary registration point for those wanting to participate in the region's League. I pulled in close – and by close, I mean a good fifty meters off to avoid wakes that could jump above my cruising height – and could see up on deck a boy maybe within a year of myself with his Pikachu and an Apom of all things. We locked eyes for a moment and I boosted away.

Less than ten minutes later I made landfall and slowed down to a slow speed. I parked in front of the harbormaster's office, went in, and got my passport stamped. That done, I proceeded to drive to Professor's Rowan's lab. I kept my speed at the posted speed limits and got there in a short amount of time. I parked outside and powered the bike down and locked it via my Pokegear. Eevee hopped out of my jacket and I stowed the waterproof layer in one of the saddlebags. Satisfied with how it was, I walked up to the lab and knocked on the door.

The door to the lab opened to reveal a lab assistant who looked a bit frazzled. "Yes?" he asked. He looked to be what one would think of if they thought of a 'nerd.'

"I'm here to register for the Sinnoh League?" I ask uncertainly.

"Oh!" he shot up, "of course!" He opened the door to reveal that many of the lab assistants were still in the middle of cleaning whatever had happened hours ago. "Please, come in." We walked into the atrium, or main lab, where he stopped me. "One moment, I'll get Professor Rowan."

Eevee looked up at me and I shrugged. The lab was a complete mess. A skylight was completely knocked out. Papers and other materials were scattered about which the other lab assistants were almost done in cleaning up. Whatever happened here certainly was… something. The only 'starter' Pokémon left was a Turtwig who was still munching away at its food bowl.

"Welcome, young man," booming, older voice behind me. I turned to see the bearded, mutton chopped man standing in confidence at the door of his personal office.

"Thank you for seeing me," I say in return.

"Of course, it's not every day we get to see a young, promising trainer come from a distant land wanting to participate in the Sinnoh League." He placed a finger on his chin as he then said, "Then again, there was supposed to be another young man from Kanto. You didn't happen to see him, did you?"

"I don't think so?" I answer honestly. Maybe the boy on the boat was the one he was waiting for? He had a Pikachu after all. But then again, Pikachu was in every region whether it be through breeding programs, controlled release programs, or some other program that a region ran. And, due to reasons that no one could quite explain, was the most popular Pokémon in the world.

"Well, regardless. You're here to participate in the Sinnoh League, are you not?" I nod. "Splendid!" He looked down to see the Eevee by my side. "I see that you have brought your own 'starter' Pokémon, have you not?"

I nod. "This Eevee is the progeny of my father's Umbreon and Espeon."

"Ah, exemplars of the so-called 'Eeveelutions' special attack and defense statistics." Eevee preened in the praise it was getting.

"It would be best not to stroke his ego too much," I say flatly and very unamused. Being the progeny of the two most well-known Pokémon in Orre already gave Eevee a fat head and an ego like no other. The fact that he listened to me was a miracle in and of itself.

"Of course. It's good the be proud of power you've obtained, but one must not be prideful lest you forget where you came from. Come," he waved, "we'll get you registered and squared away for the League challenge." Sure enough, a few minutes later I had been given a trainer's card which contained my Sinnoh League registration number as a challenger, my origins, my passport ID, and so on. Basically, an all-in-one identification card. Sure, I wouldn't want to lose my passport, but it'd be able to be used in lieu of it. It also had a hard-coded ID that would allow me to withdraw and deposit Pokémon from the Sinnoh PC storage system with a secondary ID system using my biometrics.

"And lastly, a Pokedex," Rowan announced as he handed me a red device. It was a device that had two screens that were joined by a hinge which mated them together when closed. On the right side was an attached gadget that could be slid out to be used or hidden. There was a four directional button on the lower half on the left side of the bottom screen and two buttons on the right side of the bottom screen. On the back was a camera.

"You're giving me this, professor?" I ask.

"Indeed. I am asking those who register at my lab this year to collect information on all Pokémon in the Sinnoh region – both on those that they catch as well as those that they encounter – so that I can continue in my research. While I know quite a bit of the Pokémon in this region, I don't know everything about the mysterious creatures that inhabit my homeland. I am using a new method of collecting information pioneered by my colleague in the Kanto Region: Professor Oak. He calls it 'crowd sourcing,' if I recall correctly. Many points of individually collected bits of information contributing to the whole," he went on. But he seemed to catch himself. "Please, try it out on your Eevee companion."

I shrugged and pointed the device at Eevee. It immediately popped a picture of Eevee on the top screen and started to read the entry in text below it. "Eevee: the Evolution Pokémon. Because its genetic makeup is irregular, it quickly changes its form due to a variety of causes," it reported in a robotic voice.

"Neat," I say.

"Indeed, it is 'neat'," Rowan proudly stated. "Just point the Pokedex at a Pokémon and it will record the data and send it to me. You can even add notes about Pokémon you've encountered such as habits, behaviors you've observed, and the like. I know that one of the biggest flaws in Oak's original Pokedex project was that any notes could be added which led to… extreme exaggeration. Rumors and speculation are fine so long as they're noted as such."

"Such as?"

"Macargo's skin temperature being that of 10,000 degrees Celsius, which is at least twice as hot as the surface of the sun. If true, none of us on this planet would be alive," Rowan dryly stated.

"I will strive for accuracy in my notes."

He nodded in approval. "Good." He pointed to the Dex once more. "The device also contains a detailed map of the region to prevent you from getting lost as much as humanly possible. It also contains a GPS signal to help you figure where you are currently and call Rangers to you should you need emergency help. Please do note that appropriate fees and costs will be deducted from your accounts depending on the services required for rescue. Do you have any additional questions?"

"Is it possible to complete the gym circuit on foot?"

"You mean hiking from one city to the next?" I nod. "It's very possible. Hundreds of trainers interested in competing in the Sinnoh championship do it yearly." Rowan paused for a moment before returning the question to me, "Why do you ask? Do you not want to use that fancy, floating bike you have?"

I organized my thoughts and replied, "In Orre, the need for such vehicles are a necessity due to the harsh deserts between towns. Now that Pokémon have been reintroduced, some have gotten territorial on certain routes and being able to quickly leave the area is vital for survival."

"I see," Rowan said as he stroked his beard. "While Pokémon are being introduced, Orre is still a very dangerous place to travel through. And Rangers?"

"My father and the newly created Orre League have been lobbying for years to the Ranger Council for more permanently stationed Rangers, but they've only been able to get seasonally stationed Rangers, but no one permanently. Its made the Orre League a very… difficult League for anyone to challenge except the very experienced."

"I see."

"I know Sinnoh is a much safer place in comparison and I heard that walking with your Pokémon was a way to improve their bond with you and them."

"That is a very true and well observed phenomenon. After all, before the invention of Pokeballs hundreds of years ago in their most primitive forms, one had to befriend and bond with Pokémon on a much deeper level."

"Plus, it'll be difficult to find additional Pokémon for my team or to see them to add to your Pokedex if I'm zipping by at several hundred kilometers per hour. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a journey in the first place."

"Indeed, it does. I assume you'd like to leave it here until you complete your league circuit?"

"As long as it's alright with you."

He laughed. "While my expertise may be in Pokémon research, I do dabble from time to time in technological advancements. After all, advancements in technologies help advance my research." I proceeded to read him through what care would need to be taken with it. Luckily it wasn't more complex than winterizing a vehicle for long-term storage during an off-season. Considering the climate of Orre not supporting a biome able to have a snowfall, I never had to store it for long periods of time. "Just let me know when you're on your way back, I will have it ready and waiting for you."

"Thank you, professor."

I turned to leave but he stopped me by speaking up. "Would you like to meet the other non-Sinnoh trainer? He should be here in a bit. I'm certain that you would like to rest and 'refuel' – as it were – before heading out."

I look to Eevee and feel my stomach start to give the first signs of hunger. And the fact that I can't live on junk food alone. "While I should get a start on the road to the first gym, I think such a meeting would prove… interesting."

"Splendid!"

Later that afternoon, I would meet one of the most interesting people I'd come to meet in my life. One Ash Ketchum.

To be continued…?

XxXxXxX

And with that, this idea comes to a close… for now. One thing that you'll notice is that for a Pokémon story there's a severe lack of battling in it. And yes, I'm wholeheartedly aware of it. One of my biggest challenges when writing stories such as this is action and it certainly one of my biggest cruxes and points of difficulty. What I might likely do is a second pilot in regards to this idea, basically a part 2, where it purely consists of a battle between this OC and Ash, maybe Paul but we'll see. And, one other thing I just realized, is that I never gave the OC a name. Well, that was a mistake that I'll also need to rectify in any type of follow-up whether a part 2 in which consists of a battle or a proper continuation. But otherwise, the stage has been set. As my very long preface went on about, I need to figure out how to balance the manga with the anime with the game events. After all, characters that are present in the game/manga aren't in the anime. Point being, there's going to have to be a lot of think-tanking going on and brainstorming to figure this one out should it go beyond a pilot. And with that out of the way, on to other projects.

I've mentioned previously a Skyrim idea based upon a random Joe getting thrown into Skyrim with the powers of the Dragonborn. That's… still in development hell. It's the beginning I'm having a bit of problems with it just not flowing the way I want it to. I'm confident that once I get past that part, I'm stuck at that I'll be able to write the rest more easily. I have another story that's set in the PJO-verse crossed over with Fate, but that also has been in a bit of development hell in relation to the beginning of it as well. I'll get to it… eventually. I also got a few more ideas but they're in the planning stages to the point where they don't even exist as files yet. On to other updates.

Well, my project to recover my old Pokémon from my old cartridges was a partial success. Red got scrubbed some time ago by my brother and I was able to save the entirety of the characters he left behind that I wanted to grab (such as Moltres, Raichu, and a few others). Yellow was completely corrupted due to overuse of a GameShark and I was only able to view the save file in a hex editor to see what was on there and attempting to port the mons from there to Red corrupted the duplicate Red save file, so I had to manually create them in PKSM and deal with the fact that the TID will be associated with PKSM. I only recovered a few mons from that as I didn't want to spend the next several hours manually inputting the characters. Silver was completely lost due to the battery dying. However, I was able to pull the game file for Sapphire… which was also deleted at some point as my brother started a new save. I learned a lot in this kind of expensive and very time-consuming journey. I'll be making a video on it eventually.

I'm finally taking a vacation for the first time this calendar year. It's been something I've been looking forward to a while since work's been driving me up the wall due to internal things that happened resulting in a semi-permanent loss of our workforce which has affected my team greatly. I'll be honest, it's only been about a week and I'm already starting to feel burned out.

Well, with that all being covered, I'll see you next time in whatever I decide to release next.